CARDIFF City produced their own version of the Prince and the Pauper at Griffin Park last night.

Before half-time the Bluebirds were the princes, ruling everything around them with a swagger and composure which made them look promotion certainties.

Jason Bowen headed his third goal in two games, City went in 1-0 ahead and there was an air of Welsh satisfaction among the 2,200-plus fans who had made the two-hour trip.

Their second-half display, though, was a walk on the dark side. City looked a bunch of paupers, stripped of their earlier qualities and suddenly looking a rag-tag outfit unable to stop Brentford running the show.

Cardiff were somehow unable to react when the home side changed their tactics and threw themselves forward with a new verve and commitment.

Alan Cork and his coaching staff certainly take some of the blame. When Brentford switched tactics from 4-4-2 to match up with City in midfield there was no obvious reaction from the dug-out.

The Bees gave early notice by switching 10 minutes before halftime, although they didn't gain the upper hand until after the interval.

As Brentford grew in confidence City needed to react, to regain the initiative, perhaps by throwing on an extra forward to alter the balance again and give the home side a new problem to think about.

They eventually did that, but by then they were 2-1 down and chasing the game.

I would have also introduced central defender Spencer Prior as City, so solid in the first-half, opened up at the back when Brentford launched their charge of the heavy brigade.

Their big strikers, Lloyd Owusu and Ben Burgess, were potent weapons as Brentford took control.

But if the coaching staff failed to react when Steve Coppell's men made their move, so did the players.

At times this season Cardiff have looked comfortably the best team in the Second Division.

They have made top-rated opposition look poor - remember the quality of that away win against Reading - on so many occasions.

Yet they seem unable to maintain standards and fall away with disastrous-effect. At their best City are a side more than capable of earning automatic promotion, but their problems were never more clearly underlined than in last night's match.

Victory would have put Cardiff above promotion rivals Brentford. Defeat, they knew, could be disastrous.

Yet City folded and all the talk after the game was of another `Jekyll and Hyde' performance.

The players were quiet as they filed out from the Griffin Park changing rooms, but Peter Thorne summed it up, saying: "We let ourselves down during the second-half."

City conceded two sloppy goals and once again they were defensively careless.

This time, though, there was a collective responsibility as City were pulled apart.

Burgess, it must be said, looked offside, but Brentford were good value for their victory and City really didn't deserve anything from the game.

With 14 matches left, City are still in the promotion chase, but they must overcome that seemingly unassailable hurdle of earning three wins in a row.

They would have made it last night with a victory, but it wasn't to be.

For skipper Graham Kavanagh the evening was made even worse by a booking, his 10th of the season, for kicking the ball away at a free-kick.

Kavanagh argued strongly that he was merely trying to knock the ball back towards the area where it was to be taken and miscued, but referee Steve Bennett would have none of it.

As a result, Kavanagh will serve a two-match suspension, missing games against Huddersfield and Northampton away.

The one player able to put the defeat out of his mind today was defender Daniel Gabbidon, who linked up with the Wales squad and could well be among the substitutes for their clash with World Cup favourites Argentina at the Millennium Stadium.

For the rest of the squad, though, there was a day off and the chance to focus on yet another big game - at Wigan Athletic on Saturday.

Once again City are more than capable of collecting all three points.

Wigan have just about given up on promotion now.

But City must find the mental strength and resolve to produce their best and maintain it for 90 minutes.

That doesn't seem a lot to ask, but too often this season Cardiff City, as a team, have failed to achieve the minimum target of achieving a good level of intensity and concentration throughout matches.